Ch 50. Final Appointment

John approached the office door with a smile on his face. It was going to be a good day, he could feel it. He walked into the office to see Andressa and Mia talking at her desk. Andressa was wearing a simple navy blue blouse and black pencil skirt, and Mia was in a black blouse with ruffles down the front and puffy sleeves along with long black pants that flared at the bottom, broken up by a silver chain belt. There was an open box of donuts on the desk and they were each enjoying them, small stains of powdered sugar very clear against both of their dark outfits.

“Good morning Ladies,” he said as he approached the desk.

“I brought you your bagels,” said Mia, holding out a separate bag.

“Thanks Mia,” said John, taking the bag and feeling the still warm bagels at the bottom of it.

Andressa stood up and gave him a quick kiss before he went into his office. He blushed a bit, not very comfortable with the public display in front of Mia, but then that was the point. Once she separated from him he sighed and carefully removed a bit of powdered sugar from the edge of her mouth with his thumb.

“Gnost is first today,” she said as she sat back at her desk.

“I know,” he replied. That was the reason he was smiling.

“I’m guessing you have no idea who's after him though?” she asked with a smile.

“Absolutely not.”

“Figured as much,” she said.

He turned his attention to Mia who was wiping powdered sugar off her black pants and only making it worse.

“Did you finish the notes on Maslow?”

“Yeah, and I worked my way through some of those counseling notes too.”

“Good job. You’re moving really quickly.”

“I do have a question. I know that there were only humans on your world, but does that mean I should only use what I learn in these books to treat humans? Are there other resources for other races? It’s not applicable to everyone I’m guessing?”

“That’s a good question. The treatments in those books aren’t even complete enough to cover all types of humans.”

“And you’ve had me work through ten of them now.”

“Yep.”

She frowned at him.

“All I can give you is a foundation to work from. I’m hoping that having you shadow me through a lot of counseling with a diverse group will help too. The tools we have, the research, it’s imperfect, but that doesn’t make it useless. At its core it’s our job to help people and we do the best with what we’ve got.”

Mia chewed on her donut for a few more moments as if considering what he was saying. “Well at least I won’t have to read dwarven Freud, or elven Maslow.”

“That’s the spirit,” replied John as he walked into his office leaving the door open, still smiling. He opened his window to let in a bit of fresh air and took his time enjoying his breakfast, occasionally catching scraps of conversation from Mia and Andressa in the other room, or even a bit of laughter.

After about a half an hour he heard the main door to the office open.

“Welcome in, Gnost,” said Andressa from her desk.

“Good morning Andressa, hey Mia,” said the young dwarf as he walked inside. John went to his office door and smiled, thinking of when Gnost had first arrived. John had found him hiding under the coffee table in the waiting room and had to work to coax him out. Now he walked in calmly with his head held high and was even able to look out the window with no trouble.

John walked back to his office and heated some mushroom tea to have ready for him, then he walked back out.

“Come on back, Gnost,” he said, gesturing toward the office.

“Hey John,” he said, nodding to the ladies as he made his way back. He still walked a bit hunched over, but that was more a feature of being a dwarf than fear of falling into the sky.

John closed the door behind him, activating the sound warding enchantment as he grabbed his coffee and Gnost’s tea, setting one on the table and holding the other. He wouldn’t need his notebook this time.

“So, how have you been?” asked John.

Gnost finished his sip of tea, savoring it a bit before responding. “I’ve been well. Had a little bit of trouble when I was taking a delivery into the countryside, but I managed it okay and didn’t feel like I was pushing myself too hard.”

“That’s good. It’s a more open space so it makes sense that it may be a bit more of an issue. How are things at the shop? How’s your uncle Stone?”

“The shop’s good. I actually ran it for a couple of days while my uncle went on a trip back to the mountains to visit grandma.”

“It went well I’m guessing?”

“Yeah. Sales were steady, and I managed to keep things moving well.”

John nodded. “Well done.”

“Thanks.”

They sat quietly, drinking from their respective cups as the gentle breeze blew against them from the window.

“Andressa told me that you asked for this to be your last appointment.”

“That’s right. I don’t feel like I need it anymore. I can walk the streets without too much trouble, and I feel… good. I don’t think I’ll be going on a dragon ride anytime soon, but that’s not something I really need to do anyway.”

John chucked. “I don’t think many people do.” he put his cup down. “Well, I won’t keep you, or go over every single little thing about your treatment and what you should do going forward. Let me just say that I’m proud of you, as is Andressa. If you ever feel like you need more help, with your fear or anything else, I’ll be a message away and will be happy to see you again.”

“Thank you,” replied Gnost with a smile.

John returned the smile and gestured with his arm for the office door. “There’s no reason for us to sit in this room, just the two of us. Let’s hang out with the ladies for the rest of the session, shall we?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“If we’re really lucky they’ll have saved some of the donuts for us.”

“Do you think they would’ve?” asked Gnost, a bit incredulous.

“Nope, but I believe in good luck today.”

…

John and Andressa walked back to his apartment holding hands as they wove through the busy Avalon streets. It was a beautiful day, and everyone was out running errands, meeting others, or just enjoying a walk. John saw a harpy carrying a halfling paramore she must’ve claimed during their recent mating season through the air, a frogman holding his mouth open so that all of his tadpoles could look around as he walked, and a procession of elves that had spontaneously burst into song. They were the shorter variant of elves for whom songs lasted less than three to four hours.

“You’re absolutely beaming today,” said Andressa, squeezing his hand a bit as she spoke.

He squeezed back. “It’s a nice day.”

“I think I’ve barely been able to feed on you at all today either.”

“Are you hungry? Want to walk by the DMV to fill up on ambient anxiety there?”

“Oh no, I’m fine. Mia fed me more than enough when her Mom and Dad visited the office. I don’t think I’ve eaten that much embarrassment in a long time.”

“Good.”

“Are you in this good of a mood because of Gnost?”

“Exactly. I’m always in a good mood when one of my patients does as well as he did. I mean, I’d support him if he continued to struggle, and I don’t expect everyone to progress as well as he did, but I’m still glad for how it went.”

“So ideally every one of your patients would drop you?”

“Because they’re better, yes.”

“You would be so bored.”

“My boredom is a small price to pay for everyone else’s mental health.”

She laughed and shook her head a bit as they continued walking. They were nearly at his apartment when she spoke again.

“You know how I told you I’d be visiting home again in a week. Right?”

“Yeah, back to your hell. Checking in with your family for a couple weeks.”

“Would you like to come with me?” she asked.

John stopped walking and looked at her. Normally she was wearing a sharp toothed smile, or a smirk, but this time she actually looked a little worried.

“Do you want me to come with you?” he asked.

“Would I ask you if I didn’t?”

“Maybe.”

“Fair,” she admitted with a bit of a shrug. “I want you to meet my family, my other friends, see where I’m from.”

John thought about it. “We’d have to figure out the scheduling with my patients. Sarah could probably cover the support group; she’s already offered before. Oh, can I survive in Hell?”

“Yes.”

“Then yes,” he affirmed, surprising himself with how easily he was able to say it. “I’ll go to Hell.”

“I’m not the first one to ask you to do that for them, am I?”

“No, but you’re the first to ask in a nice way.”